Critic Reviews

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95

GameFan Magazine

OK, this is getting scary. Wipeout was made for the Playstation, right? What's it doing on the Saturn? Better yet, how is it working on the Saturn? In fact, except for the light sourcing effects missing, this version might actually be better! The play control's tighter, it seems faster at time and there's a new tune! In my opinion, the Saturn version is just more fun to play and is definitely the best racer on the system so far.

All in all, this will never be considered the best version of the twot. You can rarely ever beat the original. But you can rest assured that this is a must buy for any Saturn library. Saturn owners should ignore my comparison to its PSX cousin. It's really only the rantings of a huge fan, disappointed by the inherent pitfalls of porting code from one machine to another. It's not the Saturn's fault; it's just the fact that Wipeout wasn't programmed for it first. That's all; have fun.

As far as ports from PlayStation titles go, this is probably all you could ask for. Graphics are good for the Saturn, and there is little if no slowdown. There is a lot of pop-up in the distance, but not really any more than the other versions. Playcontrol is good, and aside from a couple of horrendously lame songs (new to this version), the soundtrack kicks ass. If you own a Saturn and even remotely fancy yourself a racing game fan, then you should definitely consider getting this title. To say the least, it totally crushes Hi-Octane, Cyber Speedway, or any of the other "Hovercar" style racers out for the system.

This was, and is, one of the best games for the PlayStation. Which really puts the pressure on for the Saturn conversion. Not surprisingly, the Saturn delivers on all aspects except for graphics. While over all there are no major problems, there is more pop-up and the lack of transparencies is problematic. Still, the most important part -- which is gameplay -- remains completely intact. That means you're in for one of the most fun and competitive racing titles ever created.

Overall, Wipeout is a mixed bag. The soundtrack is outstanding, especially if your audio setup includes sub-woofers. The graphics are decent for a Saturn game, and feature a great futuristic style. I wanted to like Wipeout, but at the end of the day, the awkward controls killed all of the excitement. Wipeout is all style, lacking in substance, and just isn’t that fun to play.